The Russian government reported on Tuesday 652 deaths from the coronavirus in 24 hours, the heaviest daily toll since the start of the pandemic and caused by the rise of the Delta variant.

The previous peak was in late December, when Russia was grappling with a deadly second wave.

No containment in sight

The second city of Russia, Saint Petersburg (north-west), which hosts Friday a quarter-final of Euro football, recorded 119 deaths, again the highest level since the start of the health crisis, while Moscow, the epicenter of the epidemic, has counted 121. The country has identified 20,616 new contaminations in one day. In total, Russia deplores 134,545 dead, making it the most bereaved European country, according to government statistics. But the statistics agency Rosstat, which has a broader definition of deaths linked to Covid-19, recorded some 270,000 deaths at the end of April.

Russia, in particular Moscow, has been struck for a few weeks by the Delta variant, which is more contagious, and which worries the whole world.

Beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients in Moscow hospitals are 75% occupied, just two weeks after municipal authorities sounded the alarm.

They have since ordered the first restrictions in nearly six months, but as during the winter wave, they refuse any strict containment in order to preserve the economy.

The vaccine campaign too slow

In an attempt to stem the epidemic, Moscow has reimposed teleworking for at least 30% of unvaccinated employees, ordered compulsory vaccination of service employees or even the creation of a health pass to go to restaurants.

The immunization campaign has been lagging behind since December, amid widespread public mistrust of Russian vaccines and despite repeated calls from President Vladimir Putin.

But with the proliferation of professional categories forced to submit to injections, the authorities say they are finally seeing an acceleration.

About 22.2 million Russians out of 146 million people have received at least one dose, according to Monday's figures from the Gogov site, which aggregates data from regions and media for lack of detailed, daily official national statistics.

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